Historic Scotland Passes + The Hoskins + Friends = Good Times!

Matthew and I have now been members of Historic Scotland for a month.  What is Historic Scotland, you say?  It is an organisation that runs hundreds of sites across Scotland consisting of everything from castles, churches and abbeys to brochs, broughs and stone circles. For an annual fee, you can gain unlimited access to all these sites in Scotland and can take in their special events as well.  Not bad, eh?

We had been considering buying the passes for a while, but because it is kind of expensive and because we hadn't ever really needed to, we had never got round to it.  But we finally took the plunge and bought them on July 2nd while a fellow Canadian was in town to celebrate Canada Day and suggested that we take in the jousting at Linlithgow Palace .  How could we resist such an offer?  So on that beautiful, sunny day we took the 15 minute train ride to the picturesque town of Linlithgow (where an entire bungalow can be rented for the same monthly fee as our flat) and took in the ruined palace.  The palace is open to the sky as a fire several centuries ago destroyed everything wooden, making it quite picturesque and also allowing the visitor to take in the surrounding loch and fields of rapeseed (canola).

Linlithgow Palace with a wee Matthew in front.

Detail of a mermaid on the Linlithgow Palace courtyard fountain - the oldest still functioning in Scotland.

The loch and town as seen from the palace tower.

The beautiful countryside and detail of the ruins.

Matthew and I up high in the sky!

Matthew and Felicity find a niche whose purpose we could not fathom.

I find a bake oven big enough to bake Hansel & Gretel in.

The parish church is within the grounds of the palace and is open to the public.  I enjoy its interesting steeple and it has a gorgeous stained glass window in it that I could stare at for hours!

Because I had to work on July 2nd I missed most of the jousting that day, Matthew and I decided to go back again the next weekend so that I could see the jousting.  And why not?  It would be FREE to get in!  We invited everyone we knew and about 14 of us met up for the festivities.  It was a great day.  First we took in the jousting:

And then we took in the palace...

Watch out, Sean! Megan's coming for you!

A hearth big enough for 7 ... and then some!

We ladies show off our amazing variety of boots!

Just can't get enough of that fountain!

The ruins of Linlithgow Palace

Palace courtyard from above.

Matthew with side view of Palace.

I am quite excited about our passes, as they now give us incentive to go places and see things.  This is a beautiful country that we are living in and it just got a tad more accessible. :)  I am sure many more photos of palaces and such will crop up over the next year.